In October 2017, we were booked to travel to Bilbao and San Sebastian, Spain. We decided we wanted to travel to French Basque Country as well.
It gets dark quite early in October so we didn't have a lot of time to explore the first day. After spending the prior couple of days living on Pintxos (not to be confused with tapas) in Spain, we wanted to enjoy a nice sit-down dinner.
Le Café du Commerce is located in an area of town with a lot of restaurants near a corner. It seemed like a happening place busy with a variety of patrons including young couples and families. We took a look at the menu and wanted to give the place try.
Firstly, the host was abrupt and not friendly at all. I know a lot of people say the French are infamously rude to Americans but that has never been my experience. We ordered a bottle of wine and our meals. The waiter behaved as if he was working fast food. We dismissed this as the busy atmosphere on an off-season night. We were excited to try the steak.
A lot of restaurants in Europe do not specify the cut of meat you are ordering unless they are truly focused on steak. We did try to get that information from the server but he didn't appear to understand what we were asking. My best guess is that what came must have been a large sirloin.
Let me start by saying, the photo above is of a gorgeous steak. Look closer. Do you see any juices? While in a photo this steak appears perfect, it was dry, tough and tasteless not to mention slightly cold. The fries were also cold. It was such a let down after all the anticipation and presentation. In fact, this meat was so tough we did not finish our meal. We tried several different ways to cut the meat before giving up. The waiter did not seem at all bothered that we did not enjoy our meal and in fact appeared quite happy to see us go.
My recommendation is if you want an amazing steak, take the eight minute walk to California Kitchen.
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